


Return

by omgimwritingfanfics



Category: Free!
Genre: Gift Fic, M/M, Plotless Fluff, SouHaru, Yakuza AU, barely delves into yakuza stuff tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-13
Updated: 2014-10-13
Packaged: 2018-02-21 00:35:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2448809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omgimwritingfanfics/pseuds/omgimwritingfanfics
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>The scrape of the window sliding up against the frame cut through the sizzling of frying mackerel, yet Haruka didn't turn around. There was only one person who came in by that window, already three stories above the ground, and the footfalls on the creaky floorboards were the exact ones he'd been expecting.</i>
</p><p>    <i> "Don't get blood on my floor."</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Return

**Author's Note:**

> for you, [rinmeowtsuoka ](http://rinmeowtsuoka.tumblr.com)
> 
>  
> 
> fyi yakuza = japanese gangster mafia
> 
> yeah i have no clue how yakuza work suspend disbelief please

 

The scrape of the window sliding up against the frame cut through the sizzling of frying mackerel, yet Haruka didn't turn around. There was only one person who came in by that window, already three stories above the ground, and the footfalls on the creaky floorboards were the exact ones he'd been expecting.  
  
     "Don't get blood on my floor."  
  
     The footsteps halted, as if the person had stopped with one foot still in the air. "How'd you know I was bleeding?" Sousuke said eventually.  
  
     "Lucky guess." Haru went to the fridge, taking out a can of soda. "I didn't know you'd be here today."  
  
     "Rin's back, thank God." Sousuke shuffled around in the living room, tell tale thumps of his shoes being slung to the ground. "Tracking down those thieves are a hell of a lot easier when he's around."  
  
     Haruka poked at the fish with a spatula. It had browned nicely. Abandoning his cooking and switching off the stove, he looked out of the kitchen entryway and narrowed his eyes when he saw Sousuke draped over the couch, his arms splayed to either side of him. Blood dripped freely off his chin.  
  
     "Hmm?" Sousuke's eyes opened a slit when Haruka approached him. They were a little glazed over, which was reason enough for Haruka to grab his wrist and yank him forward. "H-Hey…"  
  
     "You're getting my couch dirty." The first aid kit was still in the bathroom, so Haruka headed for it, Sousuke stumbling behind.  
  
     "Ha…that couch is plenty dirty already."  
  
     His hold on Sousuke tightened considerably.  
  
     If only Rin hadn't pulled Haruka (back) into yakuza dealings after four years of trying to forget his past, he was pretty sure he'd be stuck in the same mundane cycle that he'd fallen into of university, swimming, eating, sleeping. As it was, Rin had come to him for help after being targeted, and Haruka's uncannily quick thinking, for which he was praised for by his professors, had saved Rin's life. And then as Rin rose in prominence in his group, Haruka's apartment became a 'safe place' that Rin would send his close friends to when they needed it. Of course, it didn't hurt that the course Haruka was taking was medicine.  
  
     Haruka released Sousuke's arm and pointing at the edge of the bath tub. "Sit."

 

* * *

  
  
     Sousuke had shown up a year after Haruka had gotten involved again, half a year before Haruka would graduate from university, making his way up the fire escape and knocking on the living room window. Three of his fingers were dislocated and he'd been covered in blood, a testimony to having gone up against nine men after learning they had killed someone he knew named Nitori Aiichirou, who in his clumsiness had wandered into the wrong territory.

 

* * *

  
  
  
     Sousuke sat obediently, idly letting blood splash onto the ceramic tiles. Muttering under his breath, Haruka grabbed the hand towel and shoved it at him. "Hold this to your head." Was that a knife slash across his chest?

 

* * *

  
  
  
     "Nanase," he had greeted him when the window had been shoved open and a gun pointed in his face. "Rin told me about you. I might have killed you for what you did, but I changed my mind when he told me you saved him. Right now I'm about to die, though, so I'd appreciate some help."  
  
     His hold on the gun hadn't wavered. "How do I know I can trust you?"  
  
     The man heaved a sigh. "Rin's so-called guilty secret is that he wants to swim in a pool full of cherry blossoms." Haru tilted his head slightly, then nodded, lowering the gun. The man clambered inside clumsily. "He's ended up swimming in blood more often than not." When he hit the floor he stumbled, and Haruka had to jump forward to catch him. "Thanks." The easy grin was belied by the angry dark bruise on his cheekbone.  
  
     Mopping up the blood and bandaging the gashes and scrapes at been quite a bit of work, but Haruka was the methodical sort. When he set his mind to a job, he could become so focused that only a grenade thrown through his front door would be able to distract him.  
  
     "Rin didn't tell me much more about you, other than that you're another of his childhood friends. The other three distanced themselves before they could get fully in this business, I heard."  
  
      Haruka nodded slightly, using a pair of tweezers to pick out a bit of glass from a cut on the man's shoulder. He flinched, swearing.  
  
     "Don't talk much, do we?" The taunt was only half-hearted though. If it hadn't been, Haruka would have probably dug the tweezers in a little deeper than necessary. Just because he didn't appear particularly muscular and wasn't going directly head to head with other gangs didn't mean he didn't know how to put someone out of commission.  
  
     "Nothing to say," he only responded shortly, finishing the extraction and cleaning the injury, before winding a bandage around it. Now came the truly painful part, made worse by the fact the man's adrenaline rush seemed to be dying down—he was twitching more when Haruka probed around the bandages.  
  
     He was going to have to wrench his dislocated fingers back into their joints.  
  
     Taking pity on the hunched figure before him, he handed him a wad of cloth to clench between his teeth, before taking his injured hand and gently spreading it out. "Five—four—three—" he began to count down, then yanked on the _two_. The man let out a muffled yell, his other hand flashing forward and locking around Haruka's wrist in a bruising grip. Haruka could almost feel his bones grinding against each other. He was _strong_.  
  
     "Let me go," Haruka said steadily, not letting pain shake his voice. He glared upwards.  
  
     "Oh—shit, sorry." The man released him, looking almost abashed.  
  
     The purple bracelet would encircle his wrist for a full week, a constant reminder of the stranger who had come in the middle of the night.

 

* * *

  
  
Haruka turned to the medicine cabinet and began busying himself pulling out bandages and alcohol and cotton swabs. "Thieves, this time?" he murmured.  
  
     Sousuke sounded faintly pleased, probably because Haruka had actually talked first instead of being prompted to. "Yeah. They jumped a few of our men outside Akira Square when they were transporting assets. Rin found out through some Kirishimas that they were part of Datesei."  
  
     _Kirishima_. The name was familiar—Haruka could faintly recall someone from his middle school with that last name. So Samezuka and Nashijiki had an alliance, then.

 

* * *

   
  
The third time the man came to his apartment—through the window, as usual—Haruka had learned his name.  
  
      Their encounters so far hadn't been impressive or awe-inspiring, but Yamazaki, as Haruka came to call him, was the only one to come back repeatedly in such a short span of time. It had only been two weeks after he had first appeared that he came again as Haruka was about to go to bed, and the third time was about a month later, this time in the early hours of the morning just before the sunrise. Rin's other friends he had told about Haruka had only visited once—a tall, muscular guy with bright red hair and a deep voice, and another one with strange bangs that angled downwards in a V.  
  
     This third time, the man had opened the window and slid into the place without bothering to knock, pulled the window down and then flopped onto the couch, all with Haruka watching him from the small kotatsu.  
  
     "Do you want something?" he asked eventually, finishing off the fried mackerel on his plate. The man let out a noncommittal grunt.  
  
     Just then, clamouring came from below; the sound of muted, angry voices. Haruka straightened, anger flashing through him. "You better not have brought them here."  
  
     "I had to get somewhere safe." The man threw an arm over his face.  
  
     "You good as _led_ them to me!" Haruka snapped. While he may have been passing off as a medical student, he did have definite ties with the yakuza, particularly with one of the higher-ups, and had assisted them before. It would be simple enough for enemies to see his associations, and target him.  
  
     "Trust me, they didn't see me come up here. I'm not _that_ obvious."  
  
     Haruka looked right back at the six-foot-one man on his couch, and found that rather hard to believe. His doubt was likely clear on his face, because the man shook head. "Trust me," he repeated.  
  
 _Trust?_  
  
     "Look, I'll even tell you my name. Would that make things easier?"  
  
 _Probably not._  
  
     "Yamazaki Sousuke." He rolled around so his back was facing Haru, and let out a deep sigh.  
  
     From below, the noise drifted away.

 

* * *

  
  
"Did you try to negotiate with them?"  
  
     "Yeah, as you can tell." Sousuke gestured to his battered body, then shrugged. " 'S'not as bad as I've gotten before, I can handle it. We got the goods back, anyway."  
  
     "Why did you come here, then?" Haruka knew why.  
  
     "Do I need a reason?"

 

* * *

  
  
By the fourth time, Haruka had become attuned to Yamazaki's presence and memorised the sound Yamazaki's feet made on his floorboards. Not heavy thumps or shuffles, but just enough weight to make them creak.  
  
     This time, he showed up with a dirty duffel bag which he tossed next to the couch. "Your place is pretty convenient, Nanase. It's always nearby when I need a breather."  
  
     Haruka emerged from the kitchen with a glass of water—for himself. "My home is not a pit stop."  
  
     "Oh, and in case you were wondering," Yamazaki seated himself on the couch like he owned it, "the reason you're missing some food from the fridge was because I stopped by yesterday. You weren't here."  
  
     Make this the _fifth_ time then. Haruka frowned. "You broke into my apartment?"  
  
     "I locked up after I left."  
  
     He gritted his teeth. "That's an empty excuse."  
  
     "It _was_ a little unusual to see you weren't here, though, you never seem to go out."  
  
     Haruka went back into the kitchen to place his glass in the sink. "Maybe because you only come by at ridiculous hours."  
  
     "The sun's setting, this isn't a ridiculous hour," Yamazaki called after him.  
  
     Rin would probably call the hour romantic. Haruka mentally scoffed at that, his friend had always been ridiculously cheesy, probably a result of the shoujo mangas his sister was always reading.  
  
     Yamazaki was still on the couch when he went back into the living room. "How long will your breather be for?" Haruka felt like crossing his arms in annoyance.  
  
     "Don't know. Back to you not being here, though, where were you?"  
  
     Haruka looked at him suspiciously. "Why does it matter?"  
  
     "Where?"  
  
     "I was at university. Where I go every day."  
  
     "You know, Rin mentions you quite a bit, Nanase."  
  
     The sudden change in topic made Haruka blink. "So what? We're friends."  
  
     "I know what he's been through, and what you made him risk for your mistake." Yamazaki's voice had hardened.  
  
 _'Rin told me about you. I might have killed you for what you did.'_  
  
     If Haruka was caught off guard, he didn't show it. "We've resolved things."  
  
     "You could still do more for him. You do know he's been ensuring your safety, don't you? Cutting off any enemy yakuza that come close to your apartment, making sure there's a few of us watching over you as you go around outside—and yes, I knew you were at university—"  
  
     He interrupted Yamazaki sharply. "Why are you telling me what I already know?"  
  
     Yamazaki stood up, and for the first time Haruka truly understood how imposing the man could make himself. He towered almost a full head above him, glaring down with force, like the pressing weight of the ocean. "You could help him out. You could _do more_."  
  
     When he left, the sun had gone down, but the sky was still a dull red.

 

* * *

  
"Everyone has a reason for what they do," Haruka countered, cutting away the tattered remains of Sousuke's shirt so he could wipe the blood off his chest. The gash was long, but shallow, thankfully. He wouldn't need stitches this time, but his shirt was definitely done for.  
  
     "Then what's your reason for putting up with me?"  
  
     When Haruka glanced up, Sousuke was smiling.

 

* * *

  
  
The next day, he had called Rin up, offering to look into some information he knew Samezuka was after.  
  
     A week later, he had more of a presence in Samezuka than he'd ever had before.

 

* * *

  
  
"You know my reasons." Haruka looked away, his ears warm.  
  
     A chuckle rumbled through Sousuke's body. "I wonder…"  
  
     They were silent for the next few minutes, during which Haruka bandaged up the wound on Sousuke's chest, skimming his cool fingers over the man's skin. Sousuke shivered, his hands flexing on the bath's edge.

 

* * *

  
  
  
Haruka was falling asleep when he heard a rattle from the living room. Instantly alert, he bolted upright in his bed, hand reaching silently for the gun under his pillow.  
  
     There it was—the rough scrape of the window sliding shut. _Burglars? Yakuza?_ Haruka slipped silently out from beneath the covers, handling the gun expertly. He had taken the time to perfect his aim after he started contacting Samezuka more often.  
  
 _Creak._  
  
     He crept forward, pressing his back up against the wall beside the closed bedroom door, and placed his hand on the handle.  
  
 _Creak._  
  
     His brow furrowed. No…it couldn't be.  
  
     He twisted the handle, thankful nothing squeaked, and gradually pulled the door open.  
  
 _Creak._  
  
     There was the possibility it was Yamazaki, but all things considered, to Haruka, it wasn't very likely. Being distrustful of the world was a thousand times easier—and safer—than blindly accepting whatever was in front of him.  
  
 _Thump._  
  
     Now that was definitely the sound of something hitting the couch. Haruka swallowed, readying himself, and burst through the opening, his gun held in front of him. "Don't move."  
  
     And then he felt cold metal touch to his temple.  
  
     He tensed up instantly, every nerve singing in alarm. Suddenly his heart was pounding in his chest and he realised that there was nobody on the couch, nothing there except for a duffel bag. A very familiar duffel bag.  
  
     He lowered his arms but refused to lose his rigid stance. "Yamazaki."  
  
     A low laugh. "I'm not _that_ stupid, Nanase." The gun lifted away from his head.  
  
     Haruka turned slowly, shifting his weight so he was poised to dart backwards, if need be. "Why are you here?"  
  
     It was the seventh time.  
  
     Yamazaki shrugged—a habit Haruka had come to associate him with. "What if I said it was my day off?"  
  
     "Yakuza don't have days off."  
  
     "No, they don't." He twirled the gun around his finger and stuck it into his baggy pocket. Haruka remembered he had never heard the _click_ of the safety being switched off. So Yamazaki had been messing with him.  
  
     The realisation annoyed him more than he thought it would.  
  
     "Mind if I crashed here?" Yamazaki flopped onto the couch without waiting for an answer, kicking the bag so it fell off to one side.  
  
 _Yes, I do mind._ "Get out."  
  
     "Oh?" Yamazaki turned to squint at him. Even though it was dark, Haruka still thought he could make out those unusual eyes. "You've been fine with it before."  
  
 _That was when you actually needed help._ "Leave."  
  
     "…No."  
  
     Haruka gritted his teeth and raised the gun to point at the figure lying before him, making sure the sound of the safety being snapped off was very loud and very obvious. "Get out of my apartment." Why was his blood burning so much?  
  
     At the sound, Yamazaki lifted his head and seemed to fixate on the gun's barrel. "Are you going to shoot me, _Haruka_?"  
  
     "Not if you go."  
  
     Yamazaki moved faster than Haruka was prepared for. A blur in the darkness, he was suddenly in front of him, grabbing his wrist and twisting it, and forcing him back a step. Haruka's hand twitched once, twice, then the gun fell from his fingers.  
  
     He gasped a little from the pain shooting up his arm, and glared up at Yamazaki. _What does he think he's doing?_  
  
     Yamazaki opened his mouth, but Haruka never heard what he was going to say, because he was already moving, springing to the side and throwing up his leg so it connected with the side of Yamazaki's head. The latter staggered to the side, letting him go.  
  
     "Should've been expecting that, I guess…" His hand was cupped to his face. "Rin did say you were good at hand-to-hand."  
  
     Haruka was still poised on the balls of his feet, prepared to strike back if he needed to. When Yamazaki didn't look up, he chanced to glance at the ground for the gun.  
  
     A whistle of air was all the warning he had before a fist pounded into his jaw, sending him tripping backwards. He barely recovered his balance in time to dart aside, avoiding the jab that was aimed at his gut.  
  
     Any remaining traces of tiredness had vanished in the face of a fight. Haruka's breath came in quick, harsh gasps as he dodged Yamazaki's blows, feeling his overwhelming presence rather than seeing the shadow that towered above him. Sensing an oncoming punch, he slid out of the way just far enough so he was out of range, but Yamazaki's knuckles still grazed ever so lightly against his cheek.  
  
     Haruka landed a few hits of his own, each one satisfyingly causing Yamazaki to let out a hiss of pain. Still, what he lacked in agility he made up for in brute strength, easily knocking Haruka back several steps when he made contact.  
  
     And then Haruka's back hit the wall, and he realised how foolish he had been.  
  
     Yamazaki's arms came slamming down on either side of him, pinning him where he stood. Both of them were panting heavily. The light that filtered through the gap in the curtains lit the sweat rolling down Yamazaki's cheek, shone off the junction between his neck and shoulder.  
  
     The air was charged with electricity that flickered between them, and undeniable heat that was settling into Haruka's bones. His chin lifted, and he said the first thing that came to his mind.  
  
     "I don't like to be used."  
  
     He almost didn't recognise his own voice, husky from rasping in the air. Yamazaki said nothing, his chest still heaving, his eyes hooded and dark. Haruka felt something shudder low in his stomach.  
  
 _Say something._  
  
     Yamazaki continued to study him, the atmosphere growing thicker by the second.  
  
 _Do something—_ "Mmph!"  
  
     He wasn't sure who moved first; all he knew was that their mouths had crushed together in a bruising, open-mouthed kiss, all teeth and tongue and saliva, messy and painful but all-consuming. He wasn't sure if he was breathing anymore. He might have even forgotten how to breathe. Yamazaki's arms had gone from caging him in to one hand pulling the back of his neck forward, the other clamped around the small of his back, and Haruka's own fingers were intertwined in Yamazaki's messy dark hair, yanking him closer closer closer.  
  
     Their tongues slid against each other, pressing and slipping and sliding, and Yamazaki's groan deep in the back of his throat had Haruka kissing him even harder. His leg slotted between Haruka's thighs, a heavy hot pressure against his hardening dick; Haruka was unable to stop his hips from canting forward and immediately flushed heavily with embarrassment. "Ya—Yamaza—ki—"  
  
     "Sousuke," Yamazaki _growled_ against his lips, and a rush of burning pleasure bolted straight to Haruka's groin. "Call me Sousuke."

 

* * *

  
  
Haruka finished with the wounds below the neck, and turned his attention to the cut that opened Sousuke's eyebrow. The towel Sousuke was holding there was already stained bright red, but then head wounds always looked worse than they were, Haruka reasoned. He motioned for Sousuke to lower his arm, and pressed a fresh towel to the cut.  
  
     So intent he was, it took a while for him to feel Sousuke's eyes boring into him. Once he noticed it, it became steadily more and more distracting, until he was physically fighting not to meet the man's gaze. "Quit it." He lifted the towel, checking the cut. A bit longer. "I'm trying to concentrate."  
  
     Gentle fingers on his cheek made him jolt. A slow smile spread across Sousuke's face. "You look good when you're focused on something."  
  
     Haruka's futile attempt to fight a blush didn't go unnoticed, judging by the way the smile twisted to a teasing smirk. "Then you should stop getting in the way."  
  
     "But you look better when you're flustered."  
  
     _Shi_ — Haruka retreated a little, narrowing his eyes and trying to ignore the way his body was responding to the rumble of Sousuke's voice. But Sousuke didn't appear to be having any of it—he reached out with his free hand, his fingers traced a swirling pattern over Haruka's jawline, reaching further back so he could cup his face. "I should really come by more often." His thumb brushed gently underneath Haruka's eye.  
  
     When focused on him, that turquoise gaze had the power of freezing Haruka in his tracks. Especially so when they were darkened with intent, but also when they were soft—he dared call it affectionate. The acknowledgement sometimes scared him more than any threat on his life.  
  
 _I want you to be here more often._ "It's your choice."  
  
     "Do you want me to?"  
  
     _Yes_. "Like I said, it's your choice." Haruka lifted away his hand, which held the dry towel to Sousuke's head, and began to clean the gash with a damp cloth. The blood caught onto the white fibres and redness blossomed like a rose.

 

* * *

  
  
" _Sousuke's taken a liking to you, Haru_." Rin had chosen just the right time to call.  
  
     "Mm." He could feel the aforementioned person's warm breath on the back of his neck, giving him goosebumps. Visit fourteen.  
  
     " _You don't have to worry, he's not careless; he wouldn't reveal where you are_."  
  
     "No, I wouldn't," Sousuke murmured, quiet enough so his voice wouldn't reach the phone, and his hand slipped over Haruka's hip to caress the inside of Haruka's thigh.  
  
     "Nng!"  
  
     " _You alright?_ "  
  
     "F-fin—" Haruka cut himself off so he wouldn't gasp out loud as Sousuke's finger trailed lightly over his head. "I have to go," he forced out, mashing the 'end call' on his phone's screen, and tossing it aside. "Don't do that when I'm _talking_ to people," he muttered.  
  
     "You won't be talking now," Sousuke said, his words sounding like a promise, and he took a firm hold on Haruka's dick.  
  
     

* * *

  
  
"For a doctor, you can be kind of—" Sousuke stopped halfway through his sentence with a short laugh. "Never mind."  
  
     Haruka flicked him on the head, not enough to hurt, just enough to sting. Sousuke winced but didn't release his hold. "You're getting blood on my face," Haruka admonished.

 

* * *

  
  
Their 'relationship' had started off as sex, but over time the touches became lingering and the smiles became warmer, the kisses longer and deeper. It hit Haruka somewhat belatedly when he was lost in the feel of Sousuke's lips, surprisingly soft for all they looked to be chapped. The way Sousuke's arms were holding him so close made him want to melt—and it was then he realised it wasn't just about sexual satisfaction anymore. Far from it.  
  
     He pulled back—a little difficult, given he was buried under the heavy weight of arousal and Sousuke's body—and observed him for a long moment. Sousuke looked back somewhat curiously, his eyes half-lidded, lazy green-blue glinting out from under long black lashes. "Something wrong?" His lips were pulled in a small smile, ruby-red and a little shiny.  
  
 _He's—I'm—I couldn't—_  
  
     Haruka swallowed, to his embarrassment, quite audibly. "I—"  
  
     Sousuke's eyes traced him, then widened momentarily. "Fuck," he said ruefully, before dipping his head to mouth at the hollow of Haruka's throat.

 

* * *

  
  
"What would you do if I said that looked good on you too? Kind of hot."  
  
     Haruka raised his eyebrow, pushing Sousuke's hand away. "How much blood have you lost?"  
  
     "If only your hair was all messed up, the way it gets when—ouch!"  
  
     "Don't move." Haruka pressed the antiseptic-doused cotton swab a little harder onto the cut, then made quick work of putting on the right dressings. By the end of it, Sousuke's blood-matted hair was sticking up at the front in odd angles from the makeshift cotton bandage-headband. The coverings on his powerful chest were stark white against his skin.  
  
     "Done." Haruka leant back on his heels, surveying his work with a critical eye. It was done well, and Sousuke wasn't the type to go picking at his bandages the minute after they'd been put on, like that lanky orange-haired teenager that had come to Haruka's the week before.  
  
     Unexpectedly, Sousuke grabbed his hand and pressed it to his lips. "M'gonna keep coming back, you know."  
  
     Haruka's breath caught in his throat. He looked aside quickly, his cheeks burning. "Do I?"  
  
     "Yeah. And," he added, getting to his feet somewhat clumsily, "you won't try to stop me. It's our choice, after all."  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
    

**Author's Note:**

> this was completely plotless also inspired from the words 'dont drip blood on my floor.'
> 
> apart from samezuka the gang names are literally japanese sounds mashed together. oh and datesei is just a mashup of dateko and aoba johsei because I'm an unoriginal idiot
> 
> akira square is also not a place
> 
> [i am ashamed of everything. especially the fact this is one of my notps and i wrote more than i have for most of my rinharus.]


End file.
